Summer Storytime: Ice Cream

This was the first of our weekly drop-in summer storytimes for ages 3 and up. We also offer a drop-in Babytime and a Tales for Tots (for ages 18 months to 3 years old). Normally, our storytimes require registration, but we keep it casual for the summer because we find people don’t want to commit to a six-week session.

I introduced a new puppet this week. Isn’t he great? We have named him Squeak because his tongue squeaks when you press it. I’m new to puppets and I’m still trying to figure out how to work them into my storytime repertoire. (If anyone has any tips for using puppets in storytime, let me know!) Since we don’t have name tags for drop-in programs, I invited everyone to come up and give Squeak a pat on the head and tell him their name. This worked out really well, so I think I’ll keep doing this each week.

Then Squeak helped us sing our opening song…

Opening Song:The More We Get Together/Come Sing a Song of Summer

Song: Swimming, Swimming in my Swimming Pool

Swimming, swimming, in my swimming pool, When days are hot when days are cool In my swimming pool! Front stroke, side stroke, fancy diving too! Oh don’t you wish you never had anything else to do?

We talked about how hot it was outside and different ways to cool off. Several kids mentioned the brand new swimming pool next door and its awesome waterslide! Then we sang the song 3 times and did the actions together.

Action Rhyme: Tall as a Tree

Tall as a tree (stretch arms overhead)Wide as a house (stretch arms out to sides)Thin as a pin (arms tight against sides)Small as a mouse (crouch)

I use this stretching rhyme in almost every storytime. The kids love to show me how tall, wide, thin, and small they can make themselves, and it’s great for getting the wiggles out.

Book #1: Curious George and the Ice Cream Surprise

This is a longer book than I normally read, but it managed to keep everyone’s attention. Most of the kids were familiar with Curious George and were happy to listen to a story about him. They loved the part where George jumps onto the roof of the ice cream truck and laughed hysterically.

Felt Board Poem: Ice Cream Colours

We have ice cream, the best in town,Let us begin with chocolate brown.
Now, let us scoop us some bubble-gum pink, It is sweet and yummy, the best, some think.
Here is ice cream minty and green, It is the creamiest I have ever seen.Scoops of blueberry would make my day,Look at all this ice cream, hip, hip hurray!
Red ice cream is a strawberry delight, All these scoops are a heavenly sight.
Vanilla white is a popular flavor, It tastes very good to an ice-cream craver.
Purple ice cream really gives me a kick, Good and yummy till the very last lick.
Ice cream, ice cream, what a cool sensation, We love ice cream in any combination!

I made this simple felt set to use while reciting the poem. This was a small group, so I was able to hand out a colour for each child to place on the flannel board as I called it. The kids loved watching the scoops of ice cream pile higher and higher. At the end of the poem, we said the colours together and then counted how many scoops we had.

Action Song: Head and Shoulders

We were getting a bit wiggly by this point, so I decided we needed to stand up and move around a bit. You can’t go wrong with Head and Shoulders. We did it 3 times. Once the normal way, then faster, then super-duper fast.

Book #2: Should I Share my Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie Book)

I am a huge Mo Willems fan, but this was my first time using an Elephant and Piggie book in storytime. The kids were divided on whether Gerald should share his ice cream or not. Half the group insisted that he should share it with Piggie, while the other half thought that he should keep it all for himself. They continued to debate the issue well after the story was over and we were working on our craft.

Craft: Paper Ice Cream Cone

I had my teen volunteers cut out the paper ice cream and cone pieces the day before, so all the kids had to do was assemble using glue sticks and decorate with stickers, foamies, and markers. I like to keep drop-in storytime crafts as simple as possible since I never know how many people are going to show up.